Bleh... the episode had no good pacing to it. And Kara falling for freakin-future-jimmy neutron?? C'mon!!!

So not happy with this episode.

I agree! The episode was nothing more than a setup for a future LOS cartoon, IF it ever happens. I hated that the romance was rush and Kara came off very desperate and B5 had to be convince by GA that he love Kara. WTF?! Plus, taking on the LOS was rather to easy and GL, of course was pick off easy as well!

And deciding to stay in another time, just because you're horny is very immature, in regards to her family and friends that she left behind. Kara may be 21, but she still has a loooong way to go to learn about maturity and responsibility, IMO.

This season of JLU while it last, has really been average and thats say alot!

I agree this wasn't a stellar episode and I really wish ther was more Legioneers features aside from Brainy and Bouncing Boy. I'm only really familiar with the recent Waid series (which is why I thought the ending of the episode was a cute shoutout) so I think there was a lot I missed (Bouncing Boy didnt kick that much ass in the comics I assume). However Brainiac V is one of my favorites in that book so it was nice to see him as a focus. Also I loved the final bit of the episode. I really wish we got to hear Superman say something like "Whaaaaaaaat?????" after it went to black though.

Also anyone know who did the voice for Brainiac V? It sounded familiar.

The space battles did look computer generated if that's what you mean -

Looks like Superman decided to use the Batman method of dealing with sidekicks. GA also has issues with his old sidekick Speedy, so apparently these heroes have trouble being mentors to the new generation.

Oh, and in that STAS episode they showed the Legion's HQ, and there's a huge Superman statue outside of it. I don't think Kara's going to be escaping Superman's legacy anytime soon.

Matt Czuchry (aka Logan from Gilmore Girls)

And nitpick time: It's Brainiac 5, not V.

This was definitely a meh episode. I've never been a Supergirl or Legion fanboy, so most of the episode was lost on me. And once again GL got punked out way too easy. I hope the next animated incarnation of JL actually has a Green Lantern who can hold his own against C-list villains.

I wouldn't call the Fatal Five C-listers. In the original continuity, they were five of the baddest badasses of the 30th Century, brought together by the Legion to try and stop the Sun-Eater. Remember, these were kids running the show...nice idea on paper, but they didn't forsee the aftermath. Here's the roll call, as much as I can remember:

Emerald Empress: has the Emerald Eye of Ekron. Shoots green light, but it wasn't related to Green Lanterns.

Mano: mutant from a polluted world. Had a deadly hand, which he used to blow up his home planet.

Persuader: had an axe, which was a relic from World War VII (or was it VIII?). That bad boy could cut light, gravity, Superboy's hair, you name it.

Tharok: half-man, half-machine. I don't think cyborgs were as common-place back then as they are today.

Validus: Hulking inhuman powerhouse. It was revealed that he was actually the product of a Legion coupling (forgot which one) and Darkseid's meddling.

Also, I think the Kara/Brainy flirting was canon in comic books. Post-Zero Hour, I think it was retconned to Andromena, a blonde Daxamite. I'm not 100 perecent on that.

Correct on the Fatal Five descriptions.



As Validus had always been shown to have "mental lightning" powers, he was quite cleverly retconned into being a child of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, sent back in time and mutated by Darkseid as punishment for the Legion beating him in the Great Darkness Saga. He was later rescued when Saturn Girl stood up to Darkseid and he recognized her inner strength (or something like that) and little Val (later renamed Garridan) was raised alongside their other kid, Graym. Garridan was, however, the carrier of the "Validus Plague" and had to be quarantined after many people on Winath, including his own father, were infected. Of course, all of that was wiped out when the Legion was rebooted during Zero Hour.



Yup, absolutely correct. (Except that it's Andromeda, but minor detail.) The Brainy/Supergirl romance was one of the Legion's great tragedies, because Brainy knew her whole history, including how and when she would die. When Kara died in the Crisis, he went a little nuts with grief and some Legionnaires even suspected he had cloned her and that was the secret identity of the mysterious Sensor Girl.

I don't see how anyone exposed to his Coluan charm could not fall in love with Braniac 5. I imagine it's one of the great afflictions of the 30th century.

From a Newsarama JLU blurb interviewing Matt Wayne:

...


I was very happy to hear Timm will be working on some DTVs. :-)

RE Far From Home: Overall I liked it but I did cringe during all that clunky, completely unrealistic love dialogue. EEK! Oh well... And I'm going to miss Ollie. I want an Ollie and Question cartoon. Crazy 'fightin' the man' Pinko Liberal and his Paranoid Philosophical buddy seeking justice for the little people! Yeah!

I have to say, Legion of Super Heroes has never had any appeal to me and this episode did nothing to change that perception. It's just so ... Silver Age.

I'm only familiar with the LSH back when Matter Eater lad (I wish he was in this episode instead Chuck - cracking jokes alongside GA. Matter Eater had crap powers too) actually fought and Phantom Girl and Sparx were Aparition and Gossamer, so I didn't recognize some of the name/costume changes.



Uh, is Colossial Boy, Laviathan? Because there was a guy who could grow but it didn't really look like him. And is Wildfire any relation to Inferno? I can't picture a guy that vain wearing a hazmat suit.

BTW, I don't know if this counts, but there was a statue of Ferro boy in the HQ.

Emerald Empress mentioned something about the Green Lanters. What happends to them? You'd think there would be one in the LSH.

I was just going to say that.

I enjoyed the episode. I don't have any gripes with it. Just happy it was on.

Wow. Who knew true love only took three minutes to fully bloom?

And I agree. clarkins, Me likey time travel episodes.

I liked it. Would've been nice if it were longer. It's was nice to see some closure on Supergirl. It was cool to see her progress from STAS up till now.
The animation looked really good.

Gim Allon, a human with growth powers, was called Colossal Boy in the original LSH. The SW6/Reboot version was called Leviathan until his untimely demise. The version in the new Waid/Kitson LSH is technically named Micro Lad because he comes from a race of giants and has the power to shrink to 6' tall, but everyone calls him Colossal Boy, much to his annoyance.



No. Wildfire is Drake Burroughs of Earth, who was exposed to antimatter during a botched experiment and is now a disembodied blob of energy who has to live inside a containment suit. Originally, his suit gave him all kinds of powers, including flight, energy blasts, matter transmutations, etc but he usually just used one that gave him flight and blasting powers.

Sun Boy was Dirk Morgna of Earth, who was left for dead in a nuclear reactor and gained solar powers as a result. His SW6/Reboot counterpart was named Inferno.



In pre-Zero Hour continuity, Green Lanterns were banned from United Planets space (or maybe just Earth; I don't recall) because one of their number, a man named Vidar, attemped to... y'know, I forget exactly what he tried to do, but I believe it had to do with going back in time to do something eeeeevil. At any rate, Vidar was stripped of his ring, GLs were banned and eventually Vidar returned to plague the LSH as the villain Universo. His son, Rond Vidar, was one of Brainiac 5's pals, a genius at temporal mechanics and a secret GL who had been tasked by the Guardians with keeping an eye on Earth.

Perhaps JLU was using that history?



Eh, I can rationalize it away on Brainy's part as he had fallen in love with Kara through historical records (which IIRC is actually what happened in the comics). So he had developed a crush on her and then when he actually got to meet the object of his affections, it blossomed into real love. Kara is a little harder to rationalize away, but I just chalk it up to him being really cute and her being kinda lonely (I mean, what 20th century boy is going to want the pressure of dating Superman's cousin?) and maybe even a little rebelliousness on her part, since he is, after all, a Brainiac.

I liked this ep just because the Legion was involved. Though I wish they'd been more creative with the Legionnaires they picked to fight Supergirl. It just seemed to be about blasting her with random energy signatures and punching her through buildings. I'd have liked if they'd introduced Triplicate Girl who can split into three and attack her, or Tyroc and his giant afro and sonic powers to take her on.

IIRC, Green Lanterns weren't allowed on earth because Vidar broke into the Time Institute on Earth and tried to use the time beacon to figure out the biiig secret of how the universe was created, which was a Green Lantern no-no. The UP was worried more Lanterns would try the same stunt, so they were all banned.

blink

Why is the biiig secret of how the universe created a biiig no-no for the Green Lanterns?

Waaaaaaay back in the day, an Oan (or Malthusan) named Krona tried to sneak a peek at the beginning of time...he saw a universe held by a hand. Remember the conclusion of the Chronos arc? Same thing. Anyway...in doing that, Krona unleashed evil upon the universe (or multiverse...I'm a bit fuzzy on that). In the end, Krona was banished to an antimatter realm, and the rest of the blue guys would evolve into the Guardians (with the womenfolk becoming Zamorans). And the Guardians would eventually form the Green Lantern Corps, based on the guilt of what Krona did.

I liked the Silver Age feel...with the series, not just the LoSH. I can appreciate the ensuing incarnations, but the old school works a little better, as opposed to bringing in, say, a teleporting bug critter that's a communist. I'm not saying Gates was lame, but he probably wouldn't translate well on screen.

ETA: Krona's GLCorps.org entry

In doing that, Krona actually created the multiverse that was subsequently undone in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and was subsequently redone and undone again in Infinite Crisis.

If you want to know why the secret of the big bang is forbidden you have to read 'Crisis On Infinite Earths'. Basically one of the Guardians, the race that created the Green Lanters, attempted to learn the secret. This lead to the Universe being split into a multiverse, the creation of a monster called the Anti-Monitor that tried to destroy said universe. The deaths of Supergirl, the Barry Allen Flash, the original Dick Grayson, the daughter of the original Bruce Wayne (I think). and other bad stuff.

Technically, learning the secret of the origin of the universe isn't banned because of what Krona did. It was already taboo when he made his attempt, because the Malthusians had a belief that something bad would happen if such an attempt were to succeed. Krona ignored this as superstition and boom! instant multiverse, antimatter universe, evil, the whole shebang.

What was Zero Hour? I've got Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis continuity down, but then after that they started retconning like crazy and I wasn't really following anything but WW and I got utterly lost and gave up about four years ago.

Wikipedia entry. Think of it as a streamlining of continuity, especially with the problematic continuties of Hawkman and the Legion.

Wow. I have GOT to go get me some comics to read. I feel I don't deserve to stand (well... post) among you comic encyclopedia gods.

I've been a Legion fan for over 20 years, and even I can't keep straight what happened and what didn't happen anymore.

What's even worse is that in addition to Zero Hour, DC has now introduced the concept of "Superboy Prime retroactive continuity punches." Don't ask.

Well, it's a lot simpler to keep track of now; the current run of Legion is now the only thing that's 'happened', and we're only sixteen issues into it. And it's really good, so my advice to everybody is to jump in and check it out. (Now with extra added Supergirl! For some reason! Somehow! (Not that I don't like Supergirl or that it isn't being done well, because I do and it is.)) The cartoon series almost certainly won't be much like the current comic book, but that's okay; there definitely isn't going to be any confusing continuity on the TV show.

For those of you who aren't really familiar with the Legion... One thing that's a little different about the Legion is the fan base. The Legion commands a really unusual amount of loyalty from its fans. I stopped collecting comics altogether in the early '90s. Just quit cold turkey. But I got back into it in 2002 because I couldn't stay away from the Legion anymore. So now I have all these back issues that I (still) have to hunt down to fill in my collection. I think they've got me for good this time; if I still had a Legion jones after ten years of no comics at all, I'll still have it no matter what happens.

---

I received the first-season Justice League DVDs for my birthday earlier this month. And now I can watch them whenever I want, including the episodes I've never seen because of YTV's lackadaisical broadcasting habits. Man, that's good stuff.

Ah, so it was the whole Parrallax thing. I did sort of know about that. And now they've given Hal Jordan the Dark Phoenix edit. Man, pick a continuity and stick with it already. Barry Allen seems to be the only DC character to get killed and actually stay dead.

I saw they just killed off Superboy a few weeks ago, but this was some type of clone, not a young Kal-El.

My head swims from the DC Universe lately. The comics are just killing me with all the "Infinite Crisis" stuff. Now, if we could only go "All Hawkgirl...All The Time."

Since that issue of Infinite Crisis has been out a few weeks, I think we can forgo spoilers.

That wasn't just "some type of clone". That was the clone, just about the only thing to come out of "Reign of the Supermen" that actually stuck (I guess you could also count Steel, but he's been largely MIA lately). For fans of Smallville's "Clex", he was also the culmination of a dream... a clone made from Superman and Lex Luthor genetic material.

I only followed Conner Kent's adventures when he popped up in the main Superman titles, so I don't know much about his days as a Teen Titan, but I did like how he had grown from his first appearance back in '92, and I was a bit upset when I came to that last page and saw everyone (except, mysteriously, Hal Jordan, who should have been there) standing over Conner's body.



And I don't think this is true, either. I'm not sure exactly what's happened to Barry, but a few issues back in Infinite Crisis when the Speedsters were tackling Superboy Prime, they created an opening in time/the Speed Force and Barry reached through to help them, much to Kid Flash's shock as he cried out, "Grampa?!?"

And there are rumors that the new Flash book will star Barry. There seems to be some debate over the costume of the Flash that popped out of the Speed Force in IC #5 to announce that Superboy-Prime was loose. I haven't gone back to examine that scene myself, but some are saying that his belt design is Barry's, not Wally's.

I really hope they're wrong.



Ain't that the truth! I've been a Legion fan since 1977 (when, at the tender age of 7, I discovered some old back issues of Adventure in a relative's attic) and it's the only book I've never given up at some point. Batman, Superman, X-Men, Justice League, Avengers, everyone else I've waxed and waned in my enjoyment of and take breaks from their books. I've stuck with the Legion through nearly 30 years of reboots, crossovers, bad artists, bad writers and editorial apathy. Even during this latest reboot, which I'm not finding consistently enjoyable, I cannot give them up. There's just something about the concept of these teen heroes in the far future, even when it's twisted and molded into something quite radically different than what's come before, that I find compelling. And now that Supergirl's in the mix again, just try and keep me away!

The current incarnation of the Legion is the one I've finally been sucked into enjoying. I'm not a Legion fan, although maybe it's because I never read the glory years of Levizt writing, I don't know.

Maybe it's their great letter columns that has gotten me into this latest incarnation.

Points:



Steel's supposed to be a big part of the coming-soon year-long weekly (!) 52 comic.



To me that's reinforcing that Barry is dead. Because he (and Johnny Quick and Max Mercury) were reaching out from the Speed Force, which is where all good speedsters go when they die. Which is not to say that they'll never bring him back, of course.



It did slow down for a while during the Lemnos story, but the last few issues have been really good.



The letter columns are great, but I hope they don't overdo it with them. I think one a year would be about right.

Oh: a couple of things that bugged me from this episode of JLU: since when is Validus a freaking robot?! No reason for that at all. And why is Shadow Lass shooting pink energy bolts? That's not even close.

My intro into the LOSH was the Legionnaires comic drawn by Chris Sprouse that came out in the mid-90s. I liked it but I was collecting too many comics at the time and had to drop it after a couple of issues.

Me too! And that Mano could disintegrate with both hands and not just one. He's called Mano for a reason, hot dammit!

Heh! Who knew all it would take to cure DC of all of its continuity ills was a punch from a slightly psychotic, repressed and emotionally stunted SBP.


Wow! This is a great LoSH discussion. I may pick up some LoSH trades and figure out some of the backstory before the new series starts.

And I can't wait for the JLU series finale discussion. And there's going to be a lot of discussion...thankfully, because I got lost in some of the comic references.

Speaking of Superboy, in the latest Teen Titans Robin is trying to clone Superboy and doesn't seem to be having much luck.

Heads up. Justice League will be joining the Boomerang lineup, starting with a marathon from 4 pm-12:30 am on Sunday followed by its regular nightly slot at 11:30 pm beginning Monday.

Of course it probably won't mean a thing to those of us without digital cable or satellite.

Obligatory Legion geek alert: We're on page 247 of this thread!

And I guess Validus had to be a robot in JLU because they wanted the cool shot of Kara punching her fist through him without having to deal with any killing issues.

Cool. I kept missing the last five minutes of the JSA tribute with the mutated kid.

Well, obviously it had to go to Boomarang because CN's schedule is swamped with Saved by the Bell repeats.

That sucks. I don't get boomerang on my cable.

I love SBTB but seriously, it doesn't belong on CARTOON Network. Is the marathon just season 1, or is it JLU?

From the few promos I have seen during Batman, it is JL not JLU. The opening segment they keep showing is the CGI one with just the seven of them moving really sloowly.

I don't either. I'm really surprised at the heave-ho this show's gotten. Not even their own marathon on Toon. Surely the network could have afforded the time rather than purchasing another Japanimation series or another animated flick from 19[effin']83. Oh, well. At least they're showing the Ultimate Avengers flick tonight so I'll be staying in making special nosh 'cuz I'm such a geek that way.

Element Lad would've been an awesome threat. Bang, Supergirl is suddenly shackled in green kryptonite and falls out of the sky, helpless.

I caught "Hereafter" on Boomerang...has to be the most hysterical of the JL episodes. I mean, it was very good...but between Superman's "death," the return of Lobo, Superman playing Kamandi, and Vandal Savage remaining calm after 30,000 years...it's a lot to take. Also: Superman ended up killing the alpha megacat, wore its hide, and fed the meat to the other critters. Once that dawned on me, I was laughing hard.